Stuck as the last of six children at home with an overbearing Italian mother, the only child still unmarried, 34 year old socially awkward Bronx butcher Marty faces middle age with no prospects of marriage, and he faces permanent bachelorhood. But when he is goaded by his mother into going to the Stardust Ballroom one Saturday night, Marty unexpectedly meets Clara, a lonely teacher. Suddenly, Marty's future seems bright. Winner of Best Picture of 1955, Best Adapted Screenplay for Paddy Chayefsky, Best Director for Delbert Mann, and Best Actor for Ernest Borgnine. Written by
----------------------------------------
MovieMan0283 from New York
----------------------------------------
I think of this is a great rainy afternoon movie. You're flipping through the channels on one of those great lazy Saturdays...it's summer but it's raining outdoors and you're stuck inside. You come across a classic movie channel (AMC, TCM--take your pick) and pause. What's this? Ernest Borgnine? You always like him, why not stop for a moment and watch. It looks like it's just beginning. "Marty"? Yeah, you've heard of it, vaguely. Won the Oscar or something, but it's been kind of forgotten. So you start watching and before long you're totally enchanted, completely charmed, by the simple story and realistic characters. Who can't sympathize with Borgnine's sensitive butcher, hanging out with his Italian friends and their goofy conversations about Mickey Spillane, all the while pining away with his heart of gold for a girl that his buddies call a "dog"? The conversations have the kind of natural humor and warmth that remind you of the old days hanging out with your pals. As you watch the movie, you find yourself enthralled and you never change the channel, watching it till the end, realizing that you've seen this plot riffed on and spoofed on various TV shows, films, and cartoons over the years. When the movie's done, you're really excited--this is one of those films you discovered on your own and nothing can beat that thrill. Now, this isn't the way I saw "Marty"--I rented it and now own it on DVD--but it's the spirit I get from it. I love the conversation between Marty and his best friend, its street poetry that's entertaining without being false, in the diner as their Friday night lays out ahead of them. I love Marty and Clara's walk, their honesty and his enthusiasm; you worry is he going to far, being too gregarious for the shy Clara? Will it work? I love the preparations for Sunday Mass, the fight between the married couple, and Marty agonizing over standing up his girl while his friends have an amusingly banal and silly conversation in which they keep repeating themselves. It's really just a charming and wonderful film, joyful even in its sad moments. If you don't enjoy it, what can I say, but my recommendation comes completely honest and from the heart. This is one of those personal favorites that also happens to be an underrated classic--but just underrated enough so that the joy of discovering it on a rainy Saturday afternoon remains undiluted.
----------------------------------------
Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
----------------------------------------
Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine) is a lonely, insecure and honest thirty-four years old good man, living with his Italian mother, Mrs. Theresa Piletti (Esther Minciotti), and working as a butcher. Angie (Joe Mantell) is his best friend, a very shallow person, and his company to the bars and ballrooms in the evenings, since the ugly and fat Marty is rejected by the girls. His Italian family and friends put pressure on him to get married, but Marty has no girlfriend and lots of difficulties to get close to women. One Saturday night, Marty meets Clara Snyder (Betsy Blair), a twenty-nine single, ugly (obs: `dog', in accordance with the description of Marty's friends in the story, but indeed Betsy Blair was a charming woman, having beautiful eyes and lovely smile and voice) and rejected woman, in a ballroom. Betsy is a teacher in Brooklyn with college degree, and like Marty, is very insecure and has the feeling of rejection by men. They feel attracted by each other and spend a wonderful night together. On the next day, before and after the Sunday Mass, Marty's relatives and friends make jokes with the lack of beauty in Clara. The marvelous open end of the story, uncommon in American movies, is one of the best I have ever seen. This movie is a simple, beautiful and touching love story with magnificent performances of the cast and a sensitive direction. The story and slangs (dog, tomatoes etc.) are dated in 2004, but does not jeopardize the beauty of this delightful romance. `Marty' is the only Best Picture winner (awarded in Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay and nominated for Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Art-Direction and Cinematography) to also win at the Cannes Film Festival. My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): `Marty'
----------------------------------------
Nicholas Rhodes from Ile-de-France / Paris Region, France
----------------------------------------
I have known, loved and seen this film many times in the past fifteen years and finally bought it recently on DVD in the UK. The story is timeless and I am very surprised that no-one has yet attempted a plausible re-make of it. Stangely made in black and white ( for economic reasons I suppose, as color was widespread enough in 1954 ), the film depicts the horrors of trying to find a soul-mate with family pressures on hand to boot. No doubt italo-Americans will appreciate even more. I found Betsy Blair extremely attractive although she is supposed to be portraying someone "ugly" - the subject is fascinating and endlessly complex as beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The general impression given was one of a depiction of a real-life situation, which is of course to the credit of the film !! I remained hungry at the end and would have liked the film to continue just a little more to show the genesis of their amorous relationship !! But some would argue that at the end of a film you should be left wanting for more .......... I also loved the theme music which is actually sung at the end over the credits where they show the name of the actor plus a view of the actor from the film - this is a technique used all too little nowadays - and this absence is most regrettable as it enabled you to put a face to a name !! I was both surprised and amused that in the 1950's, ugly people were referred to as "dogs" - sounds so funny now - but I think the word "squares" or "cornballs" was also used disparagingly !! Definitely a most original film and which (exceptionally) seems to have attracted a unanimity of positive reviews on IMDb !!
----------------------------------------
Andrew DiMonte (NoArrow) from My House, Canada
----------------------------------------
Rarely does a scene come along in a movie that's so powerful, affective, and ultimately satisfying as the scene at the end of `Marty' when the title character stands up to his shallow friends. Ernest Borgnine plays Marty, in a performance that's so heartwarming, kind and earnest it would take a very cold man not to love him. Marty is an honest butcher, who, at thirty-four years old, has been turned very insecure by the years of being turned away by women because of his looks and nervous manner.
The film spans over two days in Marty's life, starting in the morning of the first day and ending at night in the second. Marty lives timidly but happily as a single butcher, with shallow, sex crazy friends and a mother at home who acts as peacemaker in family battles. The mother (Esther Minciotti) also nags Marty to find a gal and get married, but Marty argues, `Whatever it is woman want, I don't got.'
Eventually she persuades (or forces) Marty to go to a dance ball and find a woman. Marty goes with his friend Angie (Joe Mantell), Angie gets a dance, Marty doesn't. Eventually Marty is confronted with an offer by a slimy man on the dance floor: the man will pay Marty five dollars to take home his date, Clara (Betsy Blair), because he wants to dance with a more attractive woman. Marty refuses, but another man accepts, and it ends with Clara running off crying. With both bravery and sympathy, Marty walks up to Clara and introduces himself.
That starts what's one of the most affective and touching love stories in movie history. Both are insecure because of their appearances – Marty because of his weight and Clara because of her gawkiness (which is admirable, any other movie would have Ernest Borgnine romancing someone like Grace Kelly). They are awkward at first, Clara is quiet and Marty rambles, but they soon grow comfortable with each other. They spend a wonderful night together that's fuelled not by lust or sex, but by sympathy, kindness and a deep understanding of each other.
By the end of the night, once Marty drops Clara off at home, he waltzes happily through the street. This scene is joyous and wonderful and powerful, when he hits a stop sign in delight, it's like a ballet.
But things aren't so well the next day. Marty's mother says she doesn't like Clara and is not approving, but we know because of a subplot that she is really just afraid of being alone. Marty's friends are perplexed as to why Marty would want to date a woman so plain and badger him about it. Marty is insecure so he spends the day passively nodding as everyone around him berates his choice for a woman. We saw their time together so we know what a mistake he can make if he doesn't call her like he promised, which makes the ending all the more glorious.
This movie is lovable on all accounts: writing, characters, music, direction, setting and especially the performances. Borgnine, who spent his time before this film playing sadistic killers in B movies, is so irresistible in this film it's hard to imagine him as a mean guy (which makes him a good actor, I guess). His performance is so realized; he's got the character down flat as he effortlessly moves through each scene. He won the only Oscar of his career for his role here, and it was an Oscar well deserved.
The supporting cast is small, but it rounds out fine, with Blair embodying sweetness as Clara and Minciotti perfectly portraying the Italian mother. The others are fine, but in small roles, I find it most perplexing that Mantell received an Oscar nom for his work in this. I was surprised that Jack Lemmon won an Oscar that year for `Mister Roberts', but I guess if this was his competition…
`Marty' is a terrific, original chick flick that achieves cinematic grandness in a few scenes. A must-see for everyone, 8/10.
----------------------------------------
StarCastle99 from Las Vegas, NV
----------------------------------------
Okay, so I'm in the Business. I don't believe this movie could get made today except as an art house film. Its beauty lies in its simplicity. Starting with a terrific script by Chayefskey (arguably one of the five best playrights of the 20th century), this movie eschews every that's big about motion pictures for a story about Everman who didn't have a date on Saturday night. Rod Steiger first performed the role on television. It won a number of Emmys. "Opened up" for the silver screen, it retains the intimacy of its characters. Ernest Borgnine has probably been in 100 movies, but this was his shining moment. He breathes live into the hapless Bronx Butcher whose soul longs for love. When he gives his "I'm gonna get down on my knees..." speech, the tears begin to flow. Why? Because in our heart of hearts, each of us feels the need for love and self validation. Marty doesn't need special effects or action sequences. Marty is in a class by itself. Had it never been made we would have all missed an opportunity to look inside ourselves. Maybe in this day and age, with all our CGI and Virtual Reality, we need another Marty, to remind us who we really are.
10/10
----------------------------------------
Snow Leopard from Ohio
----------------------------------------
Despite having only the most basic of story-lines, this is a nicely-crafted movie with a worthwhile story. Ernest Borgnine deserves the praise he has received for his performance as "Marty", and he seems very natural in the part, for all that it seems so different from most of his other roles. The other characters are also rendered believably, and events develop naturally. While the two main characters may think of themselves as failures, viewers can see that they are just ordinary persons trying to be honest and sensitive, and this makes it easy to identify with them.
The story efficiently introduces Marty and the other characters, showing how he interacts with them. Since the others are all so absorbed in their own concerns, they view Marty solely in terms of how he fits in with their own plans and desires, again making it easy for the viewer to relate to him. Joe Mantell, Esther Minciotti, Augusta Ciolli, and Jerry Paris make Marty's family and friends thoroughly believable, and they work well in their interactions with Borgnine. By the time that Marty meets Clara (Betsy Blair), everything is set up so as to get the most out of the possibilities.
Praise also goes to Delbert Mann and Paddy Chayefsky for being willing to make a movie out of such low-key material. It may not impress those who have become benumbed by the ostentation of present-day film-makers, since its quality is of a subtler, more unaffected kind. But it's a worthwhile achievement in its own right, a story about ordinary persons and everyday concerns, of the kind that takes skill and understanding to make well.
----------------------------------------
christineb-2 from Edmonds, Washington
----------------------------------------
Before six pack abs, fake breasts, the inter-net and Aids, there was Marty. I feel sorry for the younger generation who will either not see this film or if they do will not appreciate its simplicity. Marty is a decent, hard working, lonely man who is hounded by his mother for not being married. He spends his free time with his equally lonely friends. He meets Clara. They both feel unattractive and rejected. Their first kiss is one of the most tender on film. If you watch closely, Marty pulls back before kissing Clara, showing his vulnerability. His Mother and best friend are jealous and selfishly try to talk Marty out of the relationship. In the end, he goes after the companionship he so desires. Ernest Borgnine deserved the Oscar he won. Watch it and enjoy!!
----------------------------------------
Lorenzo1950 from USA
----------------------------------------
I love movies of the 1950's and this is a prime example of the quality today's movies seem to lack.
Being Italian myself I can relate to Marty's situation. Marty's mother and aunt are aging widows and Italian families are extremely close. Sadly, Marty's mother any aunt are feeling old and useless and in many ways try to sabotage their son's happiness. This is sad but true speaking as a bachelor myself. At one point your mother asks you, when are you ever going to get married and when they are older they want to live with you because they too are lonely.
I found myself deeply moved by the decency of Marty and the young teacher he meets at a singles dance. These are truly special people that life has passed by, but not for long. They discover each other and Marty calls the girl in spite of the reservations of his mother and friends.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Marty and his young lady are the truly beautiful people in this poignant love story.
I would rate this movie 50 stars if I could.
Wonderful, funny at times and unforgettable.
A must see and a must have in any movie collection.
----------------------------------------
anonymous
----------------------------------------
As an under-30 viewer of Marty I wanted to take the time to say that I believe the value in a film such as this lies in the fact that it deals with themes that continue to be of relevance to contemporary viewers.
In particular, Marty has to deal with a widow mother whom attempts to thwart his chance at love in order to preserve her own central position in his life. The situation is not dissimilar to one that my boyfriend has to deal with- his mother is a widow and she is worried that if her son marries she will be displaced and have no social worth.
Ernest Borgnine's performance was superb, especially the scene in which he yells at his mother to lay-off trying to make him go out and find a girl at the Stardust Ballroom when he knows that all the night has in store for him is more heart-ache.
----------------------------------------
tripper0 from Canada
----------------------------------------
'Marty' is a movie that can be summed up simply in three words. It's very honest. Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair play the two main characters, Marty and Clara. The bulk of the movie takes place over one night, the night Marty and Clara meet. Everything is really that simple. The thing that is great is that neither of the characters is anything but human. They are flawed, they are insecure, and they are awkward around each other and don't know how to act in certain situations. The chemistry between Blair and Borgnine is absolutely beautiful. They give us a relationship that is real. There are moments in the movie, that I won't give away, that are almost hard to watch and its hard not to feel sympathy. At the same time, its hard not to relate to the characters on some level. They are human, they are flawed, and its beautiful to watch, yet sad at the same time. I was surprised by the charm of the movie and I recommend it to anyone. 8.5 out of 10.
At 90 minutes long, this is the shortest of all films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
------------------------
This is one of only two movies to win both the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Picture, the other being The Lost Weekend (1945).
------------------------
Delbert Mann had no idea who to cast in the lead role, so asked his friend Robert Aldrich. Aldrich immediately suggested Ernest Borgnine. Mann was skeptical, as Borgnine was only known for playing heavies, but Aldrich convinced him. Borgnine regularly says that he owes his career to Robert Aldrich.
------------------------
Betsy Blair, who portrayed Clara, was almost not permitted to do the film by Hecht-Lancaster Productions and United Artists due to the 1950s Hollywood Blacklist. However, Gene Kelly, her husband at the time, basically blackmailed United Artists and Hecht-Lancaster into casting her, at the last minute, by threatening not to direct or star in any of UA's or Hecht Lancaster's productions if she was not cast for the role.
------------------------
The only time in film history that the producers spent more on a film's award campaign ($400,000) than they did on making the movie ($343,000).
------------------------
A Moscow screening of the film during a 1959 cultural-exchange program made it the first U.S. feature seen in the U.S.S.R. since World War II.
------------------------
This is the remake of a 1953 TV movie of the same name, with Rod Steiger in the title role.
------------------------
It was rumored that producers Harold Hecht and Burt Lancaster financed the movie as a tax-write off, believing the picture would lose money.
------------------------
Film debut (uncredited) of Jerry Orbach.
------------------------
Delbert Mann became the first director to win the Best Director Oscar with his debut. This record stood until 1981 when Robert Redford repeated the feat with Ordinary People (1980).
------------------------
Ernest Borgnine's Best Actor Oscar statuette was presented to him by Grace Kelly (RKO Pantages Theatre Hollywood / 21 March 1956).
------------------------
The first American film to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
------------------------
The film, which cost only $340,000 to make and generated rentals of $3,000,000 at the domestic box office, reportedly was one of the most profitable movies ever made.
------------------------
The most prominent uncredited role was Ralph, portrayed by Frank Sutton, who was later famous for his role of Sgt. Vince Carter on Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964), a military themed comedy, which was a ratings competitor, from 1964 to 1966, to the military themed comedy which Ernest Borgnine starred on, McHale's Navy (1962).
------------------------
Rod Steiger, who had originated the role of Marty in the eponymous TV production, said that he turned down the role in the movie because the Hecht-Lancaster Productions contract would have bound him for years. Harold Hecht and Burt Lancaster, on the other hand, said that they did not want to cast Steiger as they felt the public would not go for the same actor that they had seen for free on TV.
------------------------
Paddy Chayefsky wrote the play (which originally appeared on television) as a starring vehicle for his friend, actor/director Martin Ritt, even naming the lead character after him. But Ritt had been blacklisted during the McCarthy "Red Scare" era and the network wouldn't allow him to be hired, and the role eventually went to Rod Steiger.
------------------------
Esther Minciotti (Mrs. Piletti), Augusta Ciolli (Aunt Catherine), and Joe Mantell (Angie) all repeat their roles from the television version of The Philco Television Playhouse: Marty (1953).
------------------------
The street scene behind the opening credits is Arthur Avenue at 187th Street in The Bronx, in front of the City of New York's old Arthur Avenue Retail Market under a billboard sign for Knickerbocker Beer, an actual New York City brand, brewed by the Ruppert Brewing Company, the family business of Colonel Jacob Ruppert, owner of the New York Yankees from 1915 to 1939, also known as the Bronx Bombers, which is where the film is set.
------------------------
First Best Picture Oscar winner to have been based on a TV program (The Philco Television Playhouse: Marty (1953))
------------------------
Future actress Joi Lansing (then a pin-up model) can be seen on cover of "Girls & Gags," a girlie magazine Marty's pals oogle at least twice during movie.
------------------------
Gloria Pall, then a world-famous pin-up model and cameo actress, appears on the inside of the magazine that Marty looks at, at the beginning of the movie.
------------------------
Feature film directing debut of Delbert Mann.
------------------------
Washington lawyer Edward Bennett Williams was offered a 10% ownership in the movie in lieu of a fee for legal work he had done. He turned down the stake and took his fee, thus losing a considerable amount of money.
------------------------
Burt Lancaster doesn't appear in the film, but he is in the theatrical trailer as the co-producer who introduces the movie to the audience.
------------------------
Marty drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer.
------------------------
Partway through production United Artists threatened to pull the plug because other Hecht-Lancaster films were over budget. According to Ernest Borgnine, the studio's accountants saved the film by pointing out that under new tax laws they had to complete Marty and show it at least once before they could write it off as a tax loss.
------------------------
United Artists was willing to burn the film off as a second feature, but Paddy Chayefsky insisted it have some kind of first-run engagement, so it premiered at the Sutton Theatre in New York, normally a venue for art films. Hecht-Lancaster's New York publicity chief, Bernie Kamber, conducted a personal campaign for the film, setting up private screenings and convincing major press outlets to feature it positively. His biggest coup was getting influential columnist Walter Winchell to hail the film as one of the biggest sleepers in Hollywood history. The slow build in viewership began with strong reviews. Then the film won the Grand Prix at Cannes, generating more press and more box office. As a result, it played 39 weeks at the Sutton to mostly packed houses. For subsequent openings, United Artist scheduled two weeks of screenings in various markets for community leaders to generate positive word of mouth. The move paid off, for though the film could not compete with the major studios' big blockbusters, it made a small profit in its initial release. That was helped by its success at the Academy Awards®, which led United Artists to reissue it to 5,000 theatres.
------------------------
Although Hollywood Reporter news items include Glenn Strange, Doris Kemper, John Dennis, Marvin Bryan, Joe Bell, Silvio Minciotti and six-year-old Steven Hecht, son of producer Harold Hecht, in the cast, their appearance in the completed picture has not been confirmed.
------------------------
Five students from the film division of the University of California, Los Angeles' College of Dramatic Arts were going to "attach themselves" to the production of Marty at the Goldwyn Studios and "follow progress of the picture to its windup." At the end of production, the students were scheduled to "shoot their own interpretation of a key scene, using the film's cast and crew," which would then earn them college credits toward a master's degree.
------------------------
Among the local landmarks used in the film are The Grand Concourse and the IRT Third Avenue El.
------------------------
The scene behind the opening credits is Arthur Avenue in The Bronx, in front of the Arthur Avenue Retail Market.
------------------------
The screenplay changed the name of the Waverly Ballroom to the Stardust Ballroom.
------------------------
The film expanded the role of Clara, and subplots about Marty's career and his mother and her sister were added.
------------------------
Burt Lancaster had wanted to cast Ernest Borgnine, with whom he had made From Here to Eternity (1953), in one of his company's pictures and after Harold Hecht saw the television production, he concluded that Borgnine was right for the role.
------------------------
In the pressbook for the film, Harold Hecht stated, "We departed from the old pattern...by gambling with unknown names. They've been doing it in Europe and it pays off."
------------------------
Paddy Chayefsky: The character of Leo, who appears in the back of the car when Marty is approached by his friends to make up the pair for the "odd squirrel" they have with them. According to Delbert Mann, Chayefsky (who was once a moderately renowned stage actor) was recruited for the very visually obscured part solely to save the time and money of hiring an extra. According to Chayefsky, for his three lines he was required to rejoin the actor's union, which required dues of $140. He recalled the role as paying about $67.
------------------------
butcher|teacher|overbearing mother|dance hall|italian american|love|marriage|reference to mickey spillane|forename as title|disapproval|stood up|crying|ed sullivan|old maid|old bachelor|oscar winner|mother dislikes son's friend|husband wife relationship|friend|based on tv movie|bronx new york city|phone booth|moving|father daughter relationship|doctor|date|cousin cousin relationship|bar|midlife crisis|wallflower|shyness|new york city|friendship|sister sister relationship|mother in law daughter in law relationship|jilted|widow|loneliness|boredom|aunt|small business|mother son relationship|fire escape|catholic|diner|butcher shop|dancing|bus stop|world war two veteran|independent film|character name in title|year 1955|
AKAs Titles:
Certifications:
Argentina:13 / Australia:PG / Brazil:Livre / Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) / Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) / Finland:S / Sweden:Btl / UK:U / USA:Approved (PCA #17297) / USA:TV-PG (TV rating) / West Germany:12
Movie Details:
MOVIE
